WET WET WET
The cross-country programme follows its familiar pattern with courses rather
muddier than in the early season.

We were well represented at international/national level
in the Reebok Challenges, the Cross Cup and the SEAA Inter-Counties.

The home Mobmatch against Orion was lost because, although
we packed well at the sharp end, the result was decided in the middle order.
Anthony Draper was Davis Cup and race winner.

After a small turnout for the first Kent Men's league at
Capstone Pk things improved at Danson Pk where we were 2nd in both the
4-to-score and Duodec. In the other leagues there have been individual wins for
Terry Hawkey, Rebecca Taylor, Chris Daniel, Daniel Casey, & Michael Thorpe.

In the South of Thames Junior we secured the Brent Shield.

Veteran winners were Nick Kinsey in the Kent Vets M40s and
Chris Woodcock (up from sunny Sidmouth to unsunny Bournemouth) in the SEAA M60.
Team wise it was gold & silver for the Kent M40s & M50s but pride of
place must go to the M60s for bronze in the BVAF XC relay and gold (after
correcting some dodgy arithmetic) in the SEAA.

Pre-Christmas XC closed with the Yacht handicap where the
handicapper (or his PC?) had them so well-sussed that 20 finished within a
minute or so. No chance that they'd catch him on Boxing Day either where the
fast boys, led by Roy Smith, usually went the wrong way and found more mud than
flour.

To show that we can also keep our feet firmly on the
ground there were excellent runs in the Rochester Airport Road Relays just
before Christmas.

MERGER TALKS - THE CURRENT SITUATION
Following on from the last Courier report, further discussions, both within
Committee and with Bromley AC, have resulted in minor refinements to the
Proposal to Merge document, and a Competition Policy statement.

Together with this, a mock-up of proposed new Club colours
was shown to the negotiating teams of both Clubs and to the December Committee
meeting. All parties accepted them as a far more aesthetically pleasing
alternative to the original proposals. Clearly some of the Committee did not
wholeheartedly support the change, as some would wish to retain all black, but
as has been stressed previously, give and take must be accepted in negotiations,
and support for the merger must be based on the whole package, not on any one
item. The principle of the merger will be put on this basis.

For your information, if you can picture it, the proposed
colours will consist of blue/maroon/blue (2.5/5.0/2.5cm wide) bands, spaced
apart by 1cm across the chest on an all black vest. The sky blue is common to
current BH and BAC colours, with the maroon representing the BAC hoops. The Club
logo will be the BH entwined squares enclosing the BAC Maltese cross in maroon.
"Blackheath & Bromley" in sky blue to be printed high on the back
of the vest.

EGM notices for a meeting, preceded by a BHHQ Ltd meeting,
on Saturday 1st February will be sent early in January, together with the
Proposal to Merge document.

CROSS-COUNTRY
Members wishing to run in any of the following three XC Championships should
contact John Baldwin as soon as possible:-
25th Jan SEAA Exmouth
22nd Feb ECCA Parliament Hill
8th Mar South of Thames Senior, Coulsdon
The National Vets XC Champs will be held on 12th Apr at Irvine, Ayrshire. (This
is not on our Fixture Card).

NEWS of MEMBERS
David Cluney has been selected for the Junior Lacrosse team to represent the
South in a forthcoming inter-area tournament.

We express our sympathy to Terry Shotton on the recent
death of her mother.

ANYONE for TABLE-TENNIS
Blackheath Harriers have played in the Bromley and District League for some
years but are currently short of players. Home matches are at HQ. Anyone
interested should phone Joy at 020 8467 2339.

VETERAN or MASTER
The British Veteran Athletics Federation, comprising a number of regional
veteran clubs, recently decided that its name would use Masters in place of
Veteran, a term which has been used in GB athletic circles for over 70 years.
The decision is attended by considerable controversy, even within that
organisation. The move is prompted partly because veteran means
"ex-serviceman" in the USA, though whether their practices should
dictate our policies seems debatable. It's also debatable whether Mastery comes
with advancing age rather than expertise. At present it seems unlikely that all
the federated GB veteran clubs will change their names and in any case veteran
athletes can and do compete in almost any event without joining a veteran club.
BV(M)AF would like that to change but that may prove wishful thinking. Lady
Veterans (? Masters) may draw their own conclusions about all this.